in data

AttackResponse

Cyberattacks can be devastating, but how a company chooses to respond to an attack can make a significant difference to its impact. Through a survey conducted by​​​​​​​ GlobalData, companies from across the globe provide insight into how they responded to a cybersecurity breach

Cyberattacks are an increasingly common part of doing business in the digital world. In a survey conducted by GlobalData, a third of companies had experienced some form of data breach malicious intrusion or known or attempted cyberattack within the prior year.

66 out of 203

Companies

​​​​​​​Yes

32.51%

82 out of 203

Companies

No

40.39%

55 out of 203

Companies

Don't know

27.09%

However, while cyberattacks are undoubtedly a cause for concern, for a significant minority of businesses they had no notable impact on the company, with only a small number having a significant impact.

A quick response can be critical to a cyberattack, and companies are increasingly implementing effective cybersecurity responses. Of those affected, almost half were able to pinpoint and mitigate the breach within a matter of hours.

Total 66 Companies

A few hours or less

46.97%

31 Companies

One day

15.15%

Two days

16.67%

More than two days

46.97%

Don't know

9.09%

10 Companies

11 Companies

8 Companies

6 Companies

As expected, in general a worse attack took longer to mitigate, although companies did report a significant variation in the time taken to handle the same severity of attack.

None – No notable cost/business impact

A few hours or le​​​​​​​ss

39%

12

0%

0

One day

Two da​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ys

More than two days

2

1

18%

13%

Low – Minor cost/business impact​​​​​​​

A few hours or less

42%

13

20%

2

One day

Two days

More​​​​​​​than

t​​​​​​wo days

7

3

64%

38%

Moderate - Moderate cost/business impact​​​​​​​

A few hours or less

16%

5

70%

​​​​​​​7

One day

Two days

More than two days

2

0

18%

0%

High – Significant cost/business impact​​​​​​​

A few hours or less

3%

1

10%

1

One day

Two days

More than two days

0

4

50%

0%

While all businesses need to be aware of the risks of cyberattacks, not all industries surveyed reported being equally impacted. Out of the businesses surveyed, a disproportionate number of those in government, communications and IT and business and professional services reported being the target of attacks. By contrast, those in the education industry reported a lower incidence of attacks.

Company type - overall​​​​​​​

Company type - data breach​​​​​​​

Being in a particular region seems to make little difference to your likelihood of attack, with very little difference between the percentage of respondents in each part of the world and the regional split of those attacked.